good luck Ricky Hatton

[on the road]

I hope he knocks mayweather into the 4th dimension.

ricky to win by knockout round 9

can he do it?

[dark86]

mayweather: loud mouth, egotistic, materialistic poor example of a human.

hatton: all heart, determination, humble, honest good example of a human being.


5th round KO to hatton by body punch.

[chris]

I don't know much about boxing but I've been watching hatton fights for years. I hope he wins but I don't know much about his opponent.

It does look like a rocky story, the American is in all the glitz while ricky is from the school of hardnox.

[danielg]

Mayweather isn't as bad as people think, it puts on a front for the cameras, which gets more viewers ($$$), but he's a good bloke behind the facade.
Hope Hatton wins with a body shot (400 kg of force, ouch!) but looking at them, Mayweathers faster, taller, 6 inch longer reach, 2 lB heavier, its going to be hard unless Ricky can get up close constantly, like Tyson when he used to floor the bigger opponents.

[revelations]

Hatton is 33/1 to whoop his ass in the 9thI hope he knocks mayweather into the 4th dimension.

ricky to win by knockout round 9

can he do it?

[bicycle]

Bread and circus.

[the_count]

Yeah Ricky by late stoppage, i dont think "money" mayweather will have the heart to cope with Hatton once he catches up with him.
I cant wait to see his ego crushed.
Hey On the road - fellow red !
Torres is a bit special eh ? ;)

[lottie]

Oh he's so hot!! :o:D

I watched a documentary on him a while ago- he's a truly lovely guy!! Which makes him even hotter in my book!!!! LMAO!!!

(sorry had to have a female opinion in here!!! lol):D

[siliconpsychosis]

Glamourised violence.

[lottie]

Glamourised violence.

True.....

[cruise4]

May I ask what people will watch this fight on?

[synergy777]

the humility/down to earth ricky hatton is a great example of how to stay real, be yourself when you have fame/riches, i love the way he has good view of family, friends and his roots. i love the way he can go to his local, have pie/mash and beer/guinness. its how you should be, its how i would be.

as for floyd, let me tell you this. he is smart, so smart that people have fallen for the panto villian, he's done you folks. he pretends to be brash, flash, its called confidence, and he has earnt it, not inherited or won it, but trained, fought and put himself on the line. put yourself in his shoes, broken home, living in poverty/ghetto, what he has done, none of us here have the courage, talent, to half what he has. he has come from a crazy backgorund, his family-parents fighting, shooting eachother. look at how he treats his family/mum, wife/kids, he is a real gentleman. look at how he got emotional, when he talked about his dad, his dad is a prat, and should make up, this would give floyd the peace/support he wants. he is hard, brash as he has to protect himself and make money for his family. unless you know or have been in similar circumstances like floyd, don't judge and follow the panto/hollywood bad guy, he does that to sell tickets, to make dollars. i like floyd after watching him, i at first thought, what a sell out, bling bling etc, then i saw the emotion/eyes when he talked about his parents, family, life/history, nah man, he doing his hustle, he is a real winner. floyd is the better athelete, techinically one the best boxers ever in the history of boxing, 6 titles in 6 different weights is unheard of.

ali was a good talker, people don't hate him.

i want ricky to win, but i have a new found respect/admiration for mayweather, don't hate the playa, hate the game/business. also alot of people hate floyd, due to jealously, they envy his riches, and thats the truth. people are jealous of peoples success to be frank, its called hate/envy. floyd/beckham its all jealously, not some intellectual analysis, its plain jealously.

its going to be a great fight, so come on ricky, make england good at least one sport!

[on the road]

Hey On the road - fellow red !
Torres is a bit special eh ? ;)

Hes a very special player ,infact I think I'm falling in love with him :D

AND its nice to see that Ricky is a proper football fan too.;)

cant wait for tonight now .

[dark86]

i will watch this free on the internet.

google sopcast or ppmate and then prepare spend an hour confused first tho.

:D

[synergy777]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/showbiz/showbiznews.html?in_article_id=500443&in_page_id=1773

A compassionate hitman - the truth about Britain's down-to-earth multi-millionaire boxer

By RICHARD PENDLEBURY - More by this author »

Last updated at 00:43am on 8th December 2007

Comments (8)

The wind whips off the High Peak on its way to bullying the litter round the streets of the Hattersley estate in Hyde, where locals say even the alsatians have to walk in pairs for their own safety.


Anytime between 7am and 2pm, on any given day, you can eat the breakfast of world champions at the Butty Box cafe on Mottram Road.


It's called the "mega" and it consists of three sausages, three bacon rashers, two eggs, two hash browns, two black puddings, two spam, beans, tomato, mushrooms, two pieces of toast, and a mug of tea or coffee.

All for less than a fiver, though the chef Susan Pythian has yet to win any Michelin stars.


Richard Hatton, MBE, swears by its restorative powers.


Today, though, business is a little slow. Perhaps it is because it's "teeming down" as one old lad observes.


But maybe it's also because a sizeable proportion of the inhabitants of this tough, grey, overspill estate on the eastern fringes of Manchester have left for Las Vegas, some 5,500 miles to the west.

In the early hours of tomorrow, local hero Ricky "The Hitman" Hatton - or Richard, as his doting mum Carol still calls him - will step into a ring the MGM Grand in America's gambling capital for the fight of his life.


He is the holder of two world titles in different weights, and has an amazing unbeaten record in 43 fights.


To call this contest "a boxing match", would be a disservice to one of those rare contests which transcends sport.


Ricky, a former carpet layer from a tight knit family on the Hattersley estate, is at the height of his fighting powers.


So, too, is his opponent, Floyd "Pretty Boy" Mayweather Jr, aged 30, a sixtimes world champion in five different weight classes, who is widely considered to be the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world

Mayweather, who is unbeaten in 38 fights, was born in Michigan but now lives in Las Vegas. He is also a loud mouthed, "trash talking" braggart from a broken family and a horrendous ghetto background. But, boy, can he box.


Mayweather says he is going to kill Hatton. Mayweather's trainer, his very unsavoury uncle Roger - of whom more later - has described in detail, the plastic surgery that Hatton, 29, will require come Sunday night.


In stark contrast, as his friends have repeated again and again this week, our Ricky is just about the nicest chap you could ever wish to meet. A self deprecating and articulate wit, his greatest fear, he says, is that people will think he's got too big for his boots.

He's a millionaire many times over thanks to the many championship belts he's won at various weights, yet has remained in the community which raised him; he still drinks in the same pubs and, outside the ring, displays a sincerely charitable nature which played a large role in his becoming an MBE.


And when not training, he eats in the local cafe. His sinewy, ten stone fighting weight can sometimes balloon to thirteen, thanks to the Butty Box diet and the pints he sinks at the New Inn, the Hattersley pub his parents used to run and where he remains a member of the darts team.


Ricky "Fatton" is how he is teasingly described when the curry takeaways have taken their toll and he is not attending his gym, on the third floor of an old hat factory in nearby Denton.


But Hatton can fight. And now he is on a mission. One of his goals is to lift the pall of history which hangs over the place where he grew up. Hattersley has its own, peculiar place in the pantheon of British crime.



Girlfriend Jennifer Dooley will attend Saturday's match

In a house on the estate where Hatton was raised, the Moors Murderers, Ian Brady and Myra Hindley had killed their final victim, 17-year-old Edward Evans.

His body was still there when police, acting on a tip off, burst in and arrested his killers.


They were not the most prolific local serial killers however.


Dr Harold Shipman by strange coincidence practised in the centre of Hyde and perhaps murdered more than 200 of his patients.


Hatton was in the same class at school as Shipman's son. He even went to a birthday party at the Shipman home. It sometimes plays on the boxer's mind, how close he was, unwittingly, to such evil.


Brady and Hindley and Shipman. A sorry litany. Perhaps that is why the locals have taken Hatton to their hearts so. They badly need a champion and Hatton is one who now bestrides a world stage.


Some 20,000 British boxing fans are expected to be in Vegas cheering him on.

Only a fraction of them will be at ringside at the MGM Grand, such is the demand for tickets.


The Hattons have hired a jet to take 300 of their friends and family from Manchester. Among those guaranteed a seat are Hatton's father Ray, who is also his manager and his garrulous mother Carol, who on any other weekend would be selling carpets from her stall in Glossop market.


Mother's voice shouting "Be careful!" is usually only one of two Hatton says he can hear above the hubbub of combat.


Another nervous spectator will be his college lecturer girlfriend Jennifer Dooley, a glamorous business graduate who was in the same class at school in Hyde as Hatton's younger brother Matthew.

Hatton has a six-year-old son from a previous relationship.


In the Briton's corner will be Billy "The Preacher" Graham, his trainer since Hatton walked into his gym at the age of 17.

"Someone said he was the best thing since sliced bread," recalls Graham, who by then was already training world champions, and had heard all that kind of hype about fighters before.


But when he first saw the teenage Hatton spar, he says, "the hair stood up on the back of my neck ... he was the best of his age I had ever seen. I told him he could go all the way, if he wanted."


He was right. Hatton had been a kick boxer as a boy but his legs were too short. Someone suggested boxing so his father took him to Bill Crawley's gym in Hyde.


Crawley, who became his first trainer told me: "I remember when he walked into the club and we took him to be assessed. He was just ten, and we had a little joke telling him we only trained champions.


"Even then Ricky said he wanted to be world champion so we just said 'well, we'll see what we can do for you'.


"When we took him to the pads to see how he punched he was hitting with the power of a 16-year-old."

Crawley was in Hatton's corner for his first fight, aged 11, in Blackpool, which he won on points.


Perhaps the most notable absentee from the Hatton entourage will be 18-year- old James Bowes, Hatton's biggest fan and for the past six years, his ringside mascot. His is the other voice which rises above the bedlam.

When I visited his Hattersley home on Thursday, James had yet to return from his special school in Oldham. James is mentally handicapped.

He was born with hydrocephalus - water on the brain - and was terminally ill for many years until he had a life saving operation in 2003.


Life has been very tough for him. The year before his operation his mother Julie had died suddenly. Now James and his four siblings all live with Julie's mother, Joyce Hodson.


He was an awe-struck fan when he met Hatton at his gym six years ago. The boxer noticed him because of his bandaged head and, when he first talked to him, could elicit no response because he was so tongue-tied.


But then Ricky invited James to watch him train whenever he wanted. He took up the invitation, showing up regularly and staying sometimes for hours.


A close friendship developed and Ricky now calls the boy his inspiration.

James has carried Hatton's championship belts into the ring at 26 of his 43 fights. Travel and accommodation when going to the fights was always paid for by Hatton, who also carpeted James's family home.


But the boy's medical condition has always precluded James from travelling to Hatton's transatlantic fights. And once again, James has been told he has to stay behind.


Yesterday he predicted his hero would "batter" Mayweather.

He said: "I'll be watching it at my uncle's house, but I wish I was there. I'm always in Ricky's corner cheering for him and he can always hear me because I'm the loudest one there.


"I love carrying his belt when he comes into the ring. At his last fight in America Wayne Rooney did it, but I'd have preferred it to be me."

The family's terrace house is adorned with pictures of James and Hatton. His grandmother said: "He thinks the earth of Rick - they're best friends.

"The doctors said James couldn't travel because of his epilepsy. But Ricky's next fight is going to be at Wembley so James will be carrying his belts out there."

The contrast between Hatton's family and feeling for his community with those of Floyd "Pretty Boy" Mayweather could not be more different. Mayweather doesn't do cosy.


"I come from a neighbourhood where dying is normal," Mayweather bragged this week, during a rant which was meant to intimidate the Briton.


"I've seen everything," he shouted. "I don't think Ricky Hatton's ever seen his father shot. I don't think Ricky Hatton's mother's ever been on drugs. I don't think his dad's been in prison."


Pretty Boy has seen it all and it has left its grim mark on his world view.

His mother Deborah was a crack addict who walked out on her boxer husband Floyd senior, when Floyd junior was a baby.


Dad was hardly a role model himself. Outside the ring he was a drug dealer and in 1978, he was shot in the leg by his own brother-in-law, while holding Floyd junior.

Floyd senior says that he was demonstrating his love of the child. His ex-wife claims he was using their son as a human shield.


Mayweather junior fought his first professional bout in 1996. He won with a knockout in round two with his uncle Roger in his corner as his father was serving a five-and-a-half year sentence for drug trafficking.


Since then the father has been fired and rehired by Pretty Boy a number of times. The relationship has now soured beyond redemption, it seems.

Dad was even in talks to train his son's last opponent Oscar de la Hoya and criticised Floyd junior this week for his boasting.

"What goes around comes around," he said. "He's on a different planet from me."

In response Pretty Boy observes "I'm just thankful my uncle Roger took me under his wing."

Ah, yes, Uncle Roger. The 46-year-old former boxer was given a sixmonth prison sentence last year for beating the grandmother of his infant son.


He is a nasty piece of work and says of the Hatton fight: "This ain't no movie. This ain't gonna be no Cinderella story. Your guy is in above his head and that's the truth. That's the grim reality he's facing."

The Hattons don't like such talk. Today, someone else will have to sell Carol Hatton's carpets at Glossop market. She's in Vegas and all fired up, just like the old days when she had to deal with rowdies in the family pub.


"If I could fight Mayweather for Richard I would - he wouldn't go more than four rounds with me. As a mum, you don't like anybody talking to someone you love with disrespect and I've never wanted Richard to win a fight more."

She has made her son promise to retire when he reaches the age of 30 when, she says, the reflexes begin to slow.

Like any mother, she doesn't want to see her son hurt and in any case, he's earned enough already - an estimated £15 million.


But the next fight is not about how much Hatton will earn.


Sometime early tomorrow morning, one of these extraordinary fighters will have to eat a prodigious amount of humble pie.


And for all his time spent at the Butty Box on Mottram Road, below the dark shadow of those lowering moors, Hatton does not intend to be the one to do so.

[cruise4]

Cheers for the tip dark86... well cool !:D

[waterbwoy]

It's mostly a big hype show IMO.

Hatton, can't see how he stands much of a chance barring some dodgy intervention. The US fight game is far superior, only logical when you think about it.

I think mayweather does have some serious issues. A program I saw was talking about him being abused by his father.

The whole fight game is rigged, too much dough in it not to be I reckon. Either way, it'll be a good show for those of you that like to see adult men giving each other brain damage and broken bones. Hatton's one quality as far as I can tell is he isn't as vain as someone like calzaghe in that he doesn't mind getting his face flattened in pursuit of glory and he can take a beating.

I'm far too sensible, I would only compete if I didn't get hit.

I did box myself as a teenager. I was pretty good too. I just decided I like the way I liked, and after several sparring sessions I went back to smoking.

Best, most intense training you can do for 30p / session though. I'd go back to the training.

[on the road]

i will watch this free on the internet.

google sopcast or ppmate and then prepare spend an hour confused first tho.

:D

downloaded ppmate and I'm having a nightmare with it :mad:

how the hell does this thing work ? I clicked on the chanel I want and its just an advert ,I cant click play -massive downer.

[dark86]

its a beast. use sopcast instead mate.

[cruise4]

"The whole fight game is rigged"

Yeah... of course its rigged. But its behind the scenes with making the fight etc. Once there's just two of them in there, providing its a genuine match, it can go either way.

[chris]

Do you think you can get the torrent of it tomorrow? I can't be bothered to watch it live, too late...

[adimon]

My prediction: Mayweather on decision

[on the road]

its a beast. use sopcast instead mate.

yeah cheers blue.:)

got sopcast and the link for the fight is on this -

http://livefooty.doctor-serv.com/


and chris from tomorrow there will be loads of torrents i should imagaine.

[peachped]

Good luck Ricky!

You will need it to keep up and catch maywaether! He will be on his toes from the off! Running away whilst flicking and scoring with his 6" adv reach.

[sunyatta60]

Hi Guys
I had a few pro fights myself back in the eighties I had bags of skill but no real belief. This fight is going to be close if they run true to form they say a good boxer will beat a good fighter. I see similarites between this fight and the Sugar Ray Leonard fight against Dave Boy Green. Although I think Hatton is mucj better than Green was. It is now 2:15 and I am watching the bill on the net.
Come on Ricky!!!

[adimon]

The so called 'Great' British fans are booing the american chap as he sings the Star Spangled Banner. Pitiful. :mad:

Btw, it's an incredibly hard song to sing. I'd like to hear Tom Jones try to hit those notes! :D

[adimon]

Great knockout.

[sensimillia]

tszuy is in my view the all time greatest boxer, and i know ricky beat him, but that would never have happened when tszuy was in his prime. hatton is still a good boxer and i think he´ll win against mayweather...

[titurel]

Mayweather defeated Hatton... :(

[sensimillia]

Mayweather defeated Hatton... :(

really? thats a surprise. just shows hatton is really just a good boxer, and not amongst the great ones...

[titurel]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/boxing/7134946.stm

"Dominant Mayweather stops Hatton"